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August 2014
RBST AGM
The 40th Annual General Meeting of Rare Breeds Survival Trust will be held at the Jersey Building, Stoneleigh Park, Kenilworth, Warks, CV8 2LG on Thursday 21st August 2014 at noon.
Reversing the Trend
 
Castlemilk Moorit sheep Dartmoor Pony and foal On Friday 18th July, at Wiston House in Sussex, RBST, Plantlife and The Wildlife Trusts held a conference calling for radical new action to reverse the loss of the UK's meadow heritage. Attended by policy makers - including a key note speech from Lord de Mauley, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at Defra - academics and practitioners from conservation, food and farming and rural development, this working event will identify the steps needed to save our vanishing meadows, wildlife and the native breeds that graze them.
HRH The Prince of Wales, as patron of the three charities and supporter of the Coronation Meadows project, also attended and shared his own vision for a thriving and diverse future for meadows and will host a lunchtime reception. Grasslands make up approximately 40% of the farmed environment. But the natural biodiversity and farming heritage associated with this green and pleasant land is fast disappearing . Wildflowers and wildlife that have been locally present for centuries, such as green-winged orchid, yellow wagtail and shrill carder bee, native livestock like Dairy Shorthorn cattle and Shire Horses, and the landscape itself (95% of flower-rich meadows have been lost since the Second World War) are vanishing, to the extent that many people under 50 say they have never seen a meadow. Meadows and other flower-rich grasslands are a key part of British identity - our romantic ruralism is defined by our pastoral land. For many, it is our flower-rich meadows and grazing animals that epitomise the beauty and diversity of our countryside but changes in land use and land management have led to its continuing decline. Plantlife, RBST and The Wildlife Trusts have been working with land owners to save these special places, but because of the extent of the challenge and the continued threats to these habitats, the three organisations are now calling for more to be done. One year on from the launch of Coronation Meadows, the conference will hear from experts on the latest research and from those in the UK and overseas who are successfully integrating management of biodiversity into thriving food, farm and tourism businesses. Marian Spain, Chief Executive of Plantlife, says.'Meadows play a huge part in our wildlife heritage. They also provide us with the "ecosystem services" that we need today - such as places for pollinators, a means of storing carbon and a way of slowing down flood water. But they are the Cinderella of the conservation world, with no specific protection or policies. We want to this event to kick start a new approach to making meadows a part of modern farms and to involve communities in managing and enjoying them. This is not a nostalgic, backward-looking step to a previous way of life - but a vision for a new holistic and sustainable approach. The conference will produce a framework for action for grasslands across the UK, which we hope will be adopted by governments and others as part of national strategies for biodiversity.' Tom Beeston, Chief Executive of RBST, adds 'Much of our grassland wildlife is helped by grazing livestock, in particular the native breeds that were bred to utilise traditional grasslands. Individual plants benefit, while habitats such as flower-rich meadows are dependent on grazing to thrive. Ground-nesting wading birds such as lapwing or snipe rely on grazing to create a the varied sward structure they need to fledge their young successfully. Both species of horseshoe bat depend on a mixture of invertebrate-rich habitats in which to forage, including grazed pasture and meadows. Many conservation organisations now use native breed livestock to ensure that grazing on wildlife sites that need it, thus not maintaining wildlife biodiversity but also that of farm animals.' Stephanie Hilborne OBE, The Wildlife Trusts' Chief Executive, said:'At a time when we ought to be putting all our effort into restoring our ecosystems and expanding the area of meadows, it is tragic that the few remaining sites we depend on to allow us to do this are so under threat. Contact with nature is key to our quality of life and we have a responsibility to future generations to reverse this trend.'
Photo: Dartmoor Pony Society
Breed Support Grants
  
British Saddleback pigs Border Leicester sheep Eriskay Pony RBST Conservation Committee has announced the following breed support grants for 2014:
- British Saddleback Breeders Club: £600 for heavy duty promotional banners and breed brochures.
- Manx Loaghtan Sheep Breeders' Group: £925 to help with the establishment of an electronic archive of various documents, reports, photographs, research papers etc which had been accumulated over time and to make this available to MLSBG and RBST for reference.
- Eriskay Pony (Purebred) Studbook Society - Comann Each nan Eliean Ltd: £1,000 to support a breeding programme using a recently discovered registered pure colt son on Ptarmigan on two purebred Eriskay pony mares.
- Wensleydale Longwool Sheepbreeders' Association: £2,000 to support breed recording: purchase of a Grassroots Breed Society Record database software and the input of back data from flock books.
- The Society of Border Leicester Sheep Breeders: £3,700 to support to the SAHPS recording programme and promotional material.
New brand for the British Lop Society
   The British Lop is listed in Category 3 'Vulnerable', this means there are between 200 and 300 registered breeding females in the UK today. Although the breed is more populous than it has been in the last 30 years, it may have suffered comparison with the other rare breed pigs by not looking particularly distinctive, and could be confused with the Welsh or the Landrace. Devotees of the breed, however, believe that the Lop has plenty of distinctive qualities and the British Lop Pig Society has set about developing a new brand campaign to bring the breed to the attention of the consumer. This new campaign aims to differentiate the Lop from other breeds, highlighting its many strengths to both producer and consumer and give people a reason to buy British Lop products.
Giles Eustice, British Lop Chairman and Publicity Officer says
'We want to promote the greatness of the Lop as a time-honoured breed, saved for the nation by a handful of heroic farmers and breeders, which is ready for a long-overdue comeback. Our message is that Lops provide a slow-growing, rare, tasty, premium alternative to the commercial breeds that consumers are used to and that this is a pig that is rewarding to breed, cook and eat.' To see their new website, follow this link. New PatronThe late Clarissa Dickson Wright was a long standing supporter of the British Lop and was standing as the Society Patron, a position set up through the campaign. With the sad loss of Clarissa, Cyrus Todiwala, who works closely with one of the society's members for pork for his restaurants, has kindly stepped into the breach
RBST Chairman Honoured by Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association   RBST Chairman Gail Sprake An award ceremony held at the Royal Norfolk Show saw RBST Chairman Gail Sprake being honoured by the award for a Life Fellowship by the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA). The award was presented by the Earl of Wessex.
The award of a Life Fellow of the Royal Norfolk Show is made to a person, nominated by a Head Steward or Member of Council, who has made an outstanding contribution to the show over many years and who have been exceptional ambassadors working tirelessly on its behalf.
Gail has been a long standing exhibitor at the Royal Norfolk Show, says 'The Life Fellowship was a completely unexpected honour. We have shown our Southdown sheep and, more recently, our Irish Moiled cattle, at the Royal Norfolk over a long period. We encouraged the sheep breeders to support the show and as a result, we have had Southdown sheep classes here for many years. The young Handlers classes are also dear to my heart and we have worked hard to promote and encourage them.
'However, I believe that it is mainly the RBST input that RNAA is most pleased with. Our Support Group - East Anglia - has always had a good presence at the show, thanks to the generosity of the organisers who give us the marquee and penning free of charge and ensure that we have a prime position. Last year, for our 40th anniversary celebrations we put on '40 breeds for 40 years' which was a huge success.'
Featured BreedBritish White    British White cattle are listed in Category 5 'Minority' this means there are between 750 and 1500 registered breeding females in the UK today. This breed was one of our success stories; moving off the Watchlist in 2010, in 2014 they unfortunately moved back on to the Watchlist, one possible reason for this could be that, like other breeds that show great success in crossing, focus has been slightly lost when it comes to ensuring a robust registered pure-bred population. To learn more, click on the images above. Photos by John Durrant
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